"Goddess" by Emma Lydia Bates

She guards sailors out of storms, but has a particular favourite in fishermen. She is also the Goddess of healing. Because of her deeply spiritual side, alone of all the Gods she is known only as 'the Goddess'. She inhabits Darshi, the heaven for heroes, although sometimes she goes to Karna, the afterlife for sinners who wish to reform to heal them. She is well known for never wanting to visit Ove, for sinners who can never be reformed. She can appear in any form, but she favours sea creatures, especially mermaids. If she does appear as a mermaid she can be recognized, because, unlike most mermaids, her hair is as long as her body and gleaming jade, unlike the soft blue of most mermaids. Her scales would be gold-flecked jade, and the fin at the end of her tail is brushed with lines of royal blue. In all her many forms she is extraordinarily beautiful.

Dask looked up from his book. I smiled at him, although of course he couldn't see me. Well, he could. But I doubted he would notice another small fish, swimming in the bucket, about to be killed and taken to sell. Of course, I would be gone before then. Although I wouldn't be killed (I can't be killed.) Fishermen are very superstitious. They would never kill a fish with pure jade scales, lightly flecked with gold. It would be bad luck to the Goddess. They might even realise I am the Goddess. Most of my priests would recognize me anyway.

Dask had stopped reading because he knew the passage off by heart anyway. He had to learn it for his coming to the sea- his coming of age, his initiation as a fisherman. I have a particular... fondness for fishermen. So I watch over them when it comes to their coming to the sea. I know nothing can really go wrong, after all, it is only true sailors, not fishermen, who are even fully submerged in their coming to the sea. All Dask would have to do is a small, painless ritual, then catch a fish with his bare hands (not as hard as it sounds for someone who had trained since they were eleven years old and besides, they drugged all the fish in the area beforehand to make them fuddled so that they swam slower) gut, cook it and eat it. Then he would set out in his own boat with the rest of the fishermen, supposedly as one of them. But they would care for him and make sure he stayed close anyway, as he was related to most of them. I didn't see the point of babying him, myself. The man was sixteen, and had been swimming long before he could walk. Fisherboys have more experience with water than even proper young sailors, although these fishermen would only stray at most three miles from the shore. But I wouldn't suggest anything. It was a sacred ceremony for me, after all.

He was led down to the sea by his father, along with about twenty other young men and women. It had been just men allowed, but I had a whisper in the ear of one of the priests that serve me when he was praying, and he sorted it out. Priests have a lot of power among superstitious fishermen, and the thought that they might have the displeasure of their patron Goddess soon sorted them out. So the men and women walked down to the edges of the sea, feet awkwardly sinking into the sand.

The coming to the sea ceremony didn't last long- it never does. The men and women went right up to the edge of the ocean and knelt down so that the waves lapped at their knees. A priest, wearing the sea-blue robe with shell decorations of an advanced priest of the Goddess, walked up to them and taking another shell, he splashed them all with the water. They then recited their oath to the Goddess.

"I will serve and honour the Goddess in all the ways I can. I will never take more than is necessary from the ocean that She protects. I pray for Her blessings upon my boat and the living I make from the sea." A more minor priest, categorised by the single shell he wore adorning the cuffs of his robe, beckoned them to stand up, gave them towels and, once they had dried themselves, led them off to the temple where they would continue in the ritual of the coming to the sea. I watched them walk a few steps, and then changed from a fish into a seagull and flew noisily behind the group. The younger priest saw me, went white and bent down in front of me to pray. His senior smiled at him, and looked up at me.

"Goddess," He said respectfully. "Thank you for gracing our ceremony with your presence." I cawed in reply, which made the younger priest go even more ashen, but at least he did not look quite as shocked as before. Soon we arrived at the Temple of the Sea, which was little more than a gazebo to cover the sacred artefacts. It was constructed from driftwood that had washed up of the beach, and the covering was made of old, patched sailcloth, bleached to a soft cream by long years of use in the sun. Underneath there were several ship-benches and an altar that was encrusted with sea salt. It was inlaid with a design of a dolphin and a mermaid swimming side by side in mother-of-pearl. Their eyes were each a very valuable pearl. There was nothing lying on top of the altar.

The young priest beckoned for the young fishermen and -women to sit down on the benches. He began, nervously, to speak.

"Erm, well, this is the next part of your coming to the sea." I could understand his nervousness. His own coming to the sea, his initiation as a priest of the Temple of the Sea, had only been a year ago. "So, we- I- will ask you a few questions to test your knowledge of our patron Goddess and the sea." He went along the row, asking questions of varying difficulty. It became a mini-contest between the fisherpeople, who could answer their question the quickest. Finally the young priest came to Dask, who was at the end of the row.

"Describe the Goddess in her mermaid form." Dask sat up a little straighter, and began to recite.

"If she does appear as a mermaid she can be recognized, because, unlike most mermaids, her hair is as long as her body and gleaming jade, unlike the soft blue of most mermaids. Her scales would be gold-flecked jade, and the fin at the end of her tail is brushed with lines of royal blue." The priest smiled, and I realised Dask had just perfectly quoted the book he had been reading earlier.

"You need to return to the sea for your next task." The older priest told them. "This will be taken by the fishermen."

They trooped obediently down to the sea. I had no interest in watching them catch drugged fish, so I returned to Darshi, or heaven, as some people know it. It is a beautiful place, filled with rolling fields and deep blue oceans- anyway, you will find out when you come to it. I returned to the village later, to see Dask when he fished as a man, rather than a boy for the first time.

I was alarmed when I saw the state of the sea. The waves were strong and regular, and of a height that could overwhelm a small rowing boat. But the new adults had to go out, because it would be bad luck if they didn't. That was ancient custom, which I couldn't change. So I swam beside Dask's boat in fish form, although I was a tiny fish, to small to bother to catch even if he did see me.

It took me a while to notice the storm developing. There was rain, strong rain, and the waves, but it was nothing to really get worried about. But slowly the rain became torrential. Dask swore and hugged his coat to him in an attempt to stay warm, and did his best to steady the boat when it rocked from side to side and from bow to stern. But soon all the waves became that strength and they threatened to capsize the small boat. Dask cursed. He didn't know what time of day it was; the sky was so dark with stormclouds it could be midnight for all he knew. Still the idiot didn't turn back. I could read the thoughts streaming through his mind. Normally I give mortals their privacy, but I felt I needed to know or he could die.

-Oh Goddess what am I going to do- -I don't want to turn back because I've only been out here five minutes- silly fool. He'd been out there almost three hours, trying to steady the boat and at the same time catch a few fish. -What if it's only a little storm to them? - The man knew full well it was a major storm! Everyone else would have turned back now, except him and his stupid pride! -Help me dear Goddess, help me- What did he think I was trying to do? -It's too late for me to turn back the waves are too strong the boat's going to capsize I'm afraid afraid afraid afraid afraid- Then I saw it. A tidal wave whipped up by strong winds and fuelled by the thunderstorm. A wave that threatened to devour the small boat and its passenger. Dask saw it, but too late. He could do nothing to escape it. That moment seemed frozen in time; Dask looking up at the wave, hand protecting his eyes from the spray while he spread himself out on the boat to stop it capsizing, and a small fish to the left of his boat attentively witnessing it all. Then time started again, the wave crashed down on to the boat, turning it upside down and trapping Dask in the water beneath it.

The worst thing was that I couldn't do anything. Dask had his destiny and even his patron Goddess wasn't allowed to change that. I could see the life being sucked from his body slowly; I could see the energy and being that made Dask, Dask positively flew out of his body as he thrashed and flailed in the water. Then he lay still. Like the events were keyed to one another, almost as soon as Dask died and stopped moving, the vast force of the sea stopped as well. Everything calmed, and although it still thundered, it even seemed to quieten like it was respecting his death. Everything gentled except me.

I transformed myself to seagull shape, and followed the wispy cloud of Dask's life force wherever it went. I won't call it a soul, because it wasn't a soul yet. The life force only becomes a soul when it enters Darshi, Karna or Ove. If someone found Dask, somehow, before his soul entered any of the three afterlives he could still be saved. He could still stay alive. The only other way he could come back to earth would be with a God or Goddess's intervention.

I followed the wispy strands of Dask's life-force as it travelled its winding paths to the three gates to the afterlife. The way to get to the afterlives is difficult to explain. You, or your life-force (only a few people have conscious recollection of this) travels up, into the clouds and then at some point the clouds and all traces of sky seem to disappear and three doors appear in white mist. If you can be persuaded to turn round, your life-force may return to your body. The three doors can appear as anything; some people seem them as gates, some just holes in the sky- whatever your expectation of a door or the entrance to the afterlife, if you believe in one, is. Dask's view, which was what I was seeing, was of old, wooden barn-style doors. Not Ove, not Ove, not Ove, I wished. I couldn't bring him back to life if he went into Ove. That was the one afterlife I had no power over. His life-force moved towards Ove. I nearly cried. Then his life-force changed direction and moved towards Darshi. I smiled. But now wasn't the time for happiness. I had to send him back to earth to live out the rest of his life. Dask shouldn't have died.

I planted myself firmly in front of the barn door. I didn't know how willing Dask would be to accept death. If he was unwilling, it would be a lot easer to bring him back to life. He tried to go over my head, duck between my legs, slip through either side of me- but the shield created by my power as a goddess wouldn't let him through. Finally his life-force gave in, and stayed in the fog just in front of the doors. I mentally pushed his life-force down below the clouds with my magic, and suddenly the wispy strands turned into something much more solid, a human body, Dask, looking pale, worse for wear, below the clouds and falling...falling...falling...

And caught on a bank of feathers by me, in the shape of a giant seabird. Very few sailors ever see them this far north. But it was a perfect shape to carry Dask safely down to the ground. I laid him on some solid land and turned into mermaid form. It wouldn't be long before he woke up, and I had something else to tell him.

He came round. He was very pale but apart from that he looked fine. His eyes were bleary as he looked around.

"Is this Darshi?" He asked. "Is anyone here?" I moved a little closer.

"GODDESS??? This is Darshi. I've died. I'm in Darshi and I'm only imagining the fact that I feel like death warmed up because you can't feel unhappy in Darshi." I smiled.

"Dask, you're alive."

"I'm not." He said, frowned. Then, realizing he'd contradicted a goddess, he said "Begging your pardon, but I drowned. I saw Darshi. I saw my grandmother! She died last spring."

"You- were dead." I said, as gently as possible. "I brought you back to life. You still have too much of a life to live." He seemed to accept this, which was surprising. Mostly I meet resistance and disbelief when I...reincarnated people. Maybe Dask was particularly religious. Or maybe it was just having seen Darshi, he would assume all his other beliefs to be correct as well. Mostly they were.

"Dask?" I asked. He looked up, nodding. "You know your stories? You know what happens when a god revives a mortal from death?" It dawned on him.

"You mean, they have to do the god's task?"

"Precisely. You have to serve me for a period of ten days. Well, five, considering I revived you willingly."

"So, what's the task?" Dask asked.

"I haven't made my mind up yet." Dask laughed, and then leaned back. Soon he was fast asleep. I let him sleep. He needed it.

It was true though- what on earth could I do with my five days of power over this mortal? I had no need to use a mortal for anything- everything I wanted was done by my priests. So, if it wasn't something for my benefit, it would have to be something for his.

"Goddess?" Dask said, waking up. "Are you still there?" I hadn't moved. I was answering mortal prayers to me- it builds their confidence, if you do that. Now I had to turn to the situation in hand. Having a mortal vessel is difficult- you can as easily kill them as help them, and either can be done entirely by accident.

"Dask. I don't need your help." He looked at me, shocked; it's considered a great insult in Dask's part of the world to refuse someone's service. "No- I'm not unhappy with you. I just haven't got any use for you. But I thought, having brought you back from death, you might as well get something out of it. So, what would you like to do?"

"Me?" He squeaked. "Why are you asking my opinion?"

"Well, I could send you on some pointless voyage or set you equally pointless tasks. But that wouldn't achieve anything for either of us. So I'm asking you not what you think I should tell you to do, but what you actually want, personally, to do?" I could see he was giving it serious consideration. I waited.

"I want to go on a voyage." He stated finally.

"A voyage?"

"You know," he said, flapping his hands at me. "A voyage of discovery. I want to fill in the gaps on all our maps- they've discovered a new landmass, but they don't know if it's an island or a full-sized continent because they're too scared of what lives there. But with the protection of the Goddess...?" He looked at me eagerly.

"What lives on the island that they're afraid of?"

"Oh, some made-up monster. Nothing to worry about." Of course, I knew about the island, and I hadn't needed to ask about the monster. But I knew the horror of the island most definitely wasn't made up.

A day later, we were once again out at sea. Dask, with guidance from me, had made his way back to his home village (much to the delight of everyone who knew him, as they had given him up for dead) and explained his journey, (without, of course, including the divine intervention). He managed to barter a small rowing boat, although it was slightly safer than the last one he'd been in. I'd stayed well out of the way in seagull shape. So, we were out at sea with only a vague map of scribbles to show us where to go. But the man who had provided the map assured us we didn't even need that. "Jus' 'ead straight west. Though why ye'd wan' to go there's beyond me. We 'ad storms all the way there and that wasn' the last of it. When we came on t'shore- " A look from his wife silenced him. "I think it's good of t' young lad to wan' a bit of adventure. An' we survived, didn't we?" The wife's glare wasn't quite enough to stop her husband from muttering "Only just," as he left the room.

So we were off. Dask was full of high spirits and energy, messing about with tiller and oars for the sheer fun of playing in the water. I was leaning back, no longer in seagull shape, but a mermaid yet again. I do have a shape as a human woman, but I find being a mermaid so much more comfortable. After a while of chatting about the sea and the weather and Dask's life (all of which, as his patron. I knew already, but I didn't tell him that) when suddenly the bat started tilting and tipping like mad. Dask went white.

"We've been here before, haven't we?" he said grimly. Then he looked out across the sea and froze.

"What is it, Dask?" I asked him. But as soon as the words escaped my mouth, I knew. The sea all around us was clear as anything, and the sky was forget-me-not blue without a cloud in sight. The 'storm' was only underneath our boat, which meant it must be some sea creature trying to capsize us. Only Dask didn't know half of the problem. I, as the Goddess of the sea, can sense sea creatures. I had only just noticed that all the signs of fish had disappeared. But the worst thing was I could sense no sea creature beneath us. There were only a few creatures in the world that have that effect. Leviathans and Krakens. There is only one leviathan in the world, and I knew well it was on the other side of the world. That meant it had to be...

"A kraken!" Dask cried. "I thought they were only made up!" I shook my head. I had bad dealings with krakens. This one probably wouldn't obey my commands.

"Kraken! Hark unto the Goddess! Begone!" Dask frowned.

"You never tried that 'old-speech' with me!" He complained.

"You would have been afraid if I had! It's the only thing krakens understand!" I had to shout above the roar of the waves. Dask grinned humourlessly.

"It clearly hasn't worked with this one!" I nodded gently. Dask seemed to think this was no worry; I would just get rid of the kraken. I was just waiting for the opportune moment. He didn't understand that I have no power over krakens. It was time for something I considered a last resort. I sent out waves of my power as a Goddess, waves that sent Dask reeling backwards but that didn't affect the kraken at all. It was a distress call to the only thing that I knew could defeat a kraken that was allied to me. The only other sea creature I could not hear. The creature that the Animal-Loving Goddess had only made one of, because if there had been a breeding couple that would have taken over and destroyed the world.

The leviathan.

It didn't matter that it was on the other side of the earth to us- it arrived it seconds. He, should I say. We could see him when he was many miles away through the spray and the surprised responses of the fish where he swam. The kraken was too busy trying to capsize our boat to notice a huge shape swimming through the water. That was, until the leviathan was almost on top of it. It was a huge green shape, like a giant snake, except with proper, ridged fish-scales. I think he had legs- small legs with webbed feet that were no use for anything but swimming and certainly couldn't carry him on land. But that didn't mater. The leviathan ruled the seas.

Suddenly the boat surged as the kraken let go, finally noticing the huge shape bearing down on it. The leviathan held the boat steady, but as soon as we were safe he sped back off into the very depths of the sea, leaving only a few bubbles to mark his presence. I think Dask summed it up nicely then.

"Wow," he said, and collapsed on top of his oar.

Once Dask had come round, the journey was fairly uneventful from then on. It lasted two days, so while Dask slept I handled the boat as I don't need sleep, although I do find it relaxing. We had plenty of food on board as well. We met a few storms, but Dask handled them well. When I remarked he should become a sailor, he laughed.

"As soon as this is over, I'm not setting foot in a boat again!"

Finally we arrived at the island. It was at night, and so pitch black we didn't notice one but of black looking more solid than the rest. We only realised we had reached land when I heard the prow of the boat grinding up against the sand of the island. Dask stirred in his sleep.

"Hmmm...island, splish, splash! Help!" I turned round quickly. "I've- I've lost my finger, I've lost it..." He writhed in his blankets, looking for this finger he'd supposedly lost. Once I had confirmed he did have all his twenty fingers and toes, I walked away from the boat. I used some of my power as a goddess to cast a small protection over Dask, so that anybody who came across the boat would not be able to go within a metre away from it. I wasn't strictly allowed to do that under the rules of Darshi, but I doubted anyone would complain. There are loopholes when it concerns a quest anyway. I used some more of my power to conjure a small ball of white fire, the healing fire of Karna, to guide my path. Then I stopped. This island was huge! I could see miles of pepply and sandy coastline stretching to either side of me, and ahead of me, imposing hills (not mountain-sized, but after flat and desolate sea, imposing nonetheless). There were a few traces of the fact humans had been here- a ragged tent, and the remains of a tumbledown huts. But it was clear that nobody had been there in a while.

The thing that did interest me though, was what was in the sand. Hoofmarks, from a large group of horses, I guessed. It didn't fit in with what I did already know about the island, but we would see...

I returned back to Dask just before sunrise. He was just stirring. I watched him sit up, and bang his head on the inside of the protection (it acts like an invisible dome over the area that you have chosen to protect.) I smiled as he swore and tried to get out, and then came running up (I was in human form by then) to stop him from doing himself some serious harm. I quickly lifted the protection, much to Dask's relief!

"What was that?" He asked me.

"A protection. It's just a simple spell to keep you safe while I was having a little wander around the island." Dask looked confused.

"Didn't you say you aren't allowed to perform magic out of Darhsi or Karna?" Now it was my turn to look awkward.

"Well- no, not really." Dask opened his mouth, so I quickly rushed on, interrupting whatever it was he was going to say. "But there are loopholes when it comes to quests and so on so nobody really minds, I mean, I'm sure nobody will complain- in fact, I'll be surprised if they even notice and anyway, I couldn't leave you all unprotected now could I? I mean, you could have got hurt- I've got a good enough excuse if they do try..." I trailed off as I noticed how Dask had raised one eyebrow sceptically.

"What's wrong with you? You've gone all twitchy and that's the longest sentence I've ever heard without anyone taking a breath."

"Well, I can certainly answer the last bit. I'm a Goddess after all; we don't need to breathe. We just like to, because we think it's quite fun. Also, I think you would be quite disconcerted if I wasn't breathing, wouldn't you?" Dask nodded. "And as for the other...I'm just a bit, oh, nothing major really." Dask didn't offer any objection; I was glad. I didn't want to have to explain to him that I had made the mistake of putting him in mortal peril- and you can't bring someone back from the dead twice.

"So, are we going to explore this island a bit, or what?" Dask asked me impatiently. I nodded uncertainly, but Dask had already set off. I had to run to catch up with him.

Soon we came to the abandoned hut. I faked interest as Dask poked about inside. He came out triumphantly.

"The hut will collapse in the next rainfall but it's still just watertight. There's a perfectly serviceable bed in there, and a couple of chairs. It looked like they had a vegetable patch as well, though I don't know if anything edible's still growing." We left the hut behind and carried on. Dask soon spotted the hoofmarks and gasped.

"Dask?" I asked him. "What's wrong? This island just has a few wild horses, that's all." But Dask was shaking his head in excitement.

"Goddess- these aren't ordinary hoofmarks. They certainly aren't from a wild horse. I think- I think," he paused to look up at me from where he was examining the hoofmarks, his eyes shining with delight. "I think these are unicorn prints!" I wasn't too ready to believe him.

"How can you tell?" I asked him sceptically.

"Oh, it's easy," he enthused. "See this part of the hoof? On a horse it's a lot rounder and less defined, whereas on a unicorn it's more oval, and you can see it much more clearly..." He rambled on happily. I nodded my head, although I didn't have a clue what he was on about. Finally, once he seemed to have run out of information, I took the moment to ask him.

"Where did you learn all this?"

"Oh, we do a basic course in tracking, everybody knows how to do it." I was sure he was just being modest.

"How many horses- er, unicorns do you think there were?"

"Hard to say. I think- this is only an estimate- ten males, fifteen females and two foals." I was amazed.

"You can tell all that from a few prints?" He blushed.

"Well, the males are bigger and heavier, so their prints are bigger and deeper. The females are less so, and the foals, like this print here- are much smaller, obviously. By the way, you said 'there were'. It's more 'there are'. These prints are only a day old at most." I wasn't sure how to reply, but I was saved from answering by a sudden sound. Then I realised what it was. Screaming. Dask's screaming.

"GODDESS!!!!!!!" I rushed to his side. He had stopped screaming, and he was just silently pointing at a shape on the horizon. His arm was shaking. I put my arm round him in a motherly way, whispering for him to shush.

"What's up?" I asked, as gently as I knew how.

"Tha- that..." He stammered in shock. "U- unicorn! Dead!" I moved around to his left side, and peered out. The shape was indefinable, but there was no mistaking the silvery horn, glittering in the dawn sunlight. It was flecked with darkness- blood. I checked that he had calmed down enough to continue walking, and then we set off slowly towards the shape on the horizon.

After fifteen minutes walk, in which we found nothing more that was interesting, we were within just a few metres of the unicorn. We could see all too clearly how it was died- and that something that was very clearly wrong with it.

"Are unicorns meant to be black?" Dask asked me. He was shaking like a leaf again. I wasn't sure what to do, but I grabbed him and hugged him tightly until he was peaceful again. It took a while. Finally Dask broke my embrace and rushed down to the unicorn's side. It was clearly been impaled on another unicorn's horn. But unlike the 'normal' pure white colour of unicorns, this unicorns fur and even its eyes were a deep black, that appeared to pull in all the light around it, until there was nothing left but darkness. I turned my head away, shivering. That unicorn embodied the essence of Ove.

Dask had his hand over his mouth. "What is that?" It was time to explain to him exactly how much I knew about the island."

"It's cursed." I said softly, but Dask heard.

"Cursed?" I nodded.

"Cursed. I didn't know they were unicorns. I thought they were just people- humans- but now it all makes more sense. How much do you know about the myth of Creation?" Dask shrugged.

"A little. We learnt it at the Temple. The head priest had this really bushy moustache, though, and I spent most of his lessons laughing at him." He hung his head shamefully. "I'm sorry." I would have laughed at that, but something about the presence of the dead unicorn sent laughter out of my mind. I could manage a smile though.

"There's no need to apologise to me. I thought the stories were boring at well." When Dask looked at me questioningly, I explained. "I'm one of the Later Gods. The First Gods were born at the beginning of time and created the universe. They are the important gods- the God of Death, of the Seasons, the Ruler, the Animal-Lover and of course The First Goddess who gave her life to the creation of our world. They then created the Later Gods to help them manage your world. That's why I can't see the future, for example. Or be in two places at once, or enter Ove. The First Gods can tdo all those things. I can't. Anyway, the story of Creation.

When the Gods were born, the only existence was Darshi, Karna and Ove, but they were all blended into each other and you could travel from one to the other. The First Gods then created your world and many others- don't ask me why- and created things to put on them. The first living things were immortal. However, the First Gods had by then decreed a purpose for Darshi, Karna and Ove- that is for rewarding, healing and punishment. Therefore the living things were made mortal, with the exception of a few."

"Why?" Dask asked. He was engrossed in my story.

"Well, the leviathan was made immortal because if there had been a breeding pair they would have taken over the world, so they only made one. But you know the Animal-Lover is sometimes called the Shy Goddess? Well, that's because she has very little self-confidence. A mortal leviathan would have died, so it was made immortal to remind her of her power in creating it.

However, with all these mortal beings, the God of Death was becoming quite- cocky, shall we say. So krakens and unicorns were made immortal in that they wouldn't die of old age. They can die of anything else that it's normal to die of, but they can't die of simply reaching the end of their lifespan. But the God of Death wasn't happy with this. He didn't mind the krakens, as they were instruments of death in themselves, but the peaceful unicorns he didn't like. He wanted them mortal, and he wanted them dead.

Well, one group of these peace-loving unicorns rebelled against the First Gods themselves, and not many people have the guts to do that, I can tell you. They rebelled against the God of Death by just not simply allowing themselves to be made mortal. Obviously, the God of Death was more powerful than them. He cursed them to forever be evil. The cursed black unicorns." Dask gasped with realisation. "Then the God of Death relented- he had a bit of a liking of the Animal-Lover, I think, which was ironic because he opposed all she stood for- all I stand for, come to that, as I am, in a sense, the daughter of the Animal-Lover as she created me to help her rule the seas- but never mind that. The God of Death, in return for the cursed unicorns sacrifice, allowed the remaining unicorns- and the cursed ones, for that matter, to remain immortal." Dask was silenced.

"How come you didn't tell me all this before?" He asked, after a moment's silent consideration.

"I've only just put it all together." I confessed. "I knew about the idea of cursed immortals, and I've heard something before about black unicorns, but it only just came back to me- and of course this. It all just fell into place." I didn't mention the reason why it had taken me so long to work it all out; because I was scared to admit I had brought Dask into danger, that's why.

"Well, we'd best move on," Dask said half-heartedly. "It's not like we want the rest of the herd to find us, do we? We want to find them first." I was sure I had heard wrong.

"You want to find them?" I squeaked, very unlike an all-powerful Goddess. But them again, only the First Gods are all-powerful.

"There's not much point us coming all this way and not doing anything, is there?" Thank the Seven Seas that was his only reason.

"That's stupid." I gripped his shoulders tightly, and spoke directly into his face, hoping that the stupid boy might see some sense. "You would be meddling with the First God's Will. Particularly the God of Death. He is not somebody to argue with."

"You've already argued with him." Dask pointed out cheekily. "By bringing me back to life."

"Well, that's just another reason why you shouldn't annoy him further. He's already got a grudge against you. For Darshi's sake, Dask, mortals that get involved in the battles of the First Gods end up dead! And they don't go to Darshi, either. Whether or not they did any wrong."

But Dask was determined. He broke my grip, ignoring the fact he was defying the will of his patron goddess, and walked away.

"I'm going to break that curse. Regardless of the God of Death." I froze. Speaking ill of the gods, even the Later Gods in their domain will mean you suffer instant death or centuries of torture until death becomes a blessing. Dask had sealed his own doom in a single sentence. But he hadn't been struck down with a lightning bolt. He didn't look to be in extreme pain. Maybe the God of Death hadn't heard? I shook my head. Impossible. The First Gods were omnipresent. Maybe...maybe he wanted Dask to do this...

I raced across the grass to Dask.

"What?" He snapped sullenly. All my goodwill vanished.

"If you're going to take that stubborn tone with me, mortal..." I stopped when I realised Dask was laughing at me.

"You really need to practise your high-and-mighty Goddess act!" He choked out between his tears. I breathed in deeply.

"Fine. Fine! I give in! I'm just going to make sure you and your stupid pig-headedness stay safe. No more. Don't expect me to help you! And when you come up in front of the God of Death himself, I am not defending you!" Dask nodded, knowing when not to enrage me further.

"Right then. Well, the tracks seem to lead this way..."

We followed the meandering path for at least five miles. It dipped up and down the many shallow hills, and we lost it a couple of times. Finally we came to the bottom of hill that seemed never to stop, and found a small, but very dense patch of wood. There was no mistaking it. That was clearly where the trail led. I looked at Dask.

"Looks like we're going in," he said, expression grim.

The forest was a completely different world to the breezy, sea-scented island. The air in the forest was ominously still and the only smell was pine sap. The trees were crowded so closely together, that in some places we had to get down on our hands and knees and crawl through the spiky undergrowth. There seemed to be an inordinate amount of pine needles amongst the grass, twigs and dirt of the undergrowth. But still we carried on. Although I couldn't see how a unicorn, or any horse could get through here, my instincts told me this was where we should go.

It was a hard journey through the densely packed forest. We couldn't talk- we had to concentrate on the forest fighting us. Finally we battled through to something f a clearing- or at least, we could stand up side by side without bashing our heads on spiny branches.

"Well," said Dask, "I'm not doing that again." I agreed heartily. We looked around, but the forest was impenetrable.

"Oh well. What do we do now?"

"Wait." I said. "Look at that tree- the big one- out of the corner of your eye." Dask obeyed, and he beamed with delight. "What can you see?"

"There's a path through the trees. It must be hidden, somehow- but that must be how the unicorns get through. Let's go!" I was about to warn him, but it was too late. He walked straight into an all-too-real pine tree.

"But- I can see the path..."

"You shouldn't be able to." I explained. "It's only because you've been in contact with an immortal- with me, for a long time. You certainly won't be able to walk the path. I doubt I could. It was created for the unicorns by the God of Death. Only he or they can use it. And the kraken and the levithan probably could, if they could walk, because they're immortal as well. But we can't. We're stuck to staying here or going back the way be came."

"I'm not going back." Dask's voice was fierce.

"Well, as we can't find the unicorns they're just going to have to find us."

We settled down on the forest floor. The floor of the clearing wasn't laden with twigs and needles like the rest of the forest, somehow it was covered in soft downy grass. As soon as we sat down moss sprang up around us for comfort.

"Did you do that?" Dask asked me, spooked. I shook m head. There was something very wrong with the magic that made that moss grow, I was sure of it. But I couldn't say what it was that made me so nervous and made that magic feel so unreal. Then I knew.

Curse magic.

This was the remnant of the God of Death's magic that had stayed on the unicorns in the curse. But with their own semi-magical power from their immortality, it had turned into something else. Some evil, mutated magic that the unicorns could command themselves- but it was so wrong that the very wrongness of its essence made my skin crawl and ate away at the Goddess-power inside me. Dask sensed my discomfort with more than the fact the clearing was magicked.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"This magic- it's wrong. If the Animal-Lover knew about it- if any of the other gods knew about it- but they can't def the God of Death because he can end their lives just like anything else- he's got no right to be so powerful- we've let him kill too many and his power grows- it's wrong." Dask was afraid to ask any more questions.

That was when I noticed how much more defined, how much more solid one part of the blackness of the edge of the clearing was. I looked into the unicorn's bottomless pools of eyes.

Ove. I knew instantly where I was. The afterlife for the sinners who did something so bad, who were inwardly so evil they could never be healed by Karna to go on to Darshi. They were tortured in flames and pits of nothing, like the unicorn's eyes.

Flash! I was back in the forest clearing again, no longer sucked in by the unicorn's eyes. I couldn't speak. I was in a situation I had never experience before- I had no control. I had been squashed like a fly by a First God. The God of Death.

"Goddess..." Dask squeaked nervously, his voice turning high at the end although his voice had broken a few years previously. I couldn't move to reply. I was frozen in place.

The unicorn pawed the ground and I could move again. I was breathing hard, out of breath. I didn't know what to do. Beyond appealing to the Animal-Lover there was nothing much I could do.

The unicorn stamped the ground impatiently once more. I couldn't tell what it was trying to do. I was just trying to avoid looking into its eyes again. I turned round. Something was wrong, but I couldn't work out what it was. Then I realised.

The clearing was getting bigger.

Slowly, the whole clearing was stretching and expanding. In moments, it was at least twice the size it had been and it was still expanding. The unicorn was unperturbed. Whatever it was that was happening, it was its choice, or at least something it was at ease with. I looked back at Dask. He had fainted. Good. At least he couldn't see whatever was about to happen.

Around the edges of the clearing, unicorns were advancing. They came from between every tree, all silently moving, without even a twig breaking. They were all universally coal-black as night, with deep pools for eyes. The unicorn who had been standing by us retreated into the circle. We were surrounded by the cursed.

"Animal-Lover," I prayed in a whisper. "Animal-Lover, caring creator, save us," I hoped it would work. But it had no reason to. The God of Death had greater power than even the Animal-Lover; she was creation, he was destruction. They both opposed each other, but in the end he would always be able to overturn her work. I put my head in my hands and waited.

I can picture that scene in the forest. A clearing, with a circle of black unicorns. In the centre, one human who had fainted, and was as pale as the unicorns were black, and a Goddess in human form, with jade-coloured hair and the scent of the sea. And, of course, the spirit of the God of Death. One unicorn stepped forward.

The other unicorns? They were nowhere near as fearsome as the one that now stood in front of us. It was a hand taller than the others, and its coat had no glossy velvet sheen. All the area around was a darker shade than it should be, as though the very essence of the blackness that the unicorns were made out of consumed all the light around. Bu the thing that scared me most were its eyes. As much as I avoided looking at them, I was drawn to them as though an invisible hand pressed my face against those eyes...

They weren't black as the eyes of the other unicorns were-they were a deep red, like the colour just before the centre of a candle flame. They were the colour of freshly spilt blood. They didn't command despair- what was embodied in those, evil eyes was what comes after despair, and loss of hope. Those eyes contained the very spirit of Ove...the fire and the loneliness and the black, bleakness that commands no emotion but pure misery...

I drew myself away from the eyes.